


We Were Just Trying For A Roadtrip, Not A Lifetime Together

by acheaptrickandacheesyoneline, ohemgeeitscoley



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Smoaking billionaires, dcpolyamficbang, eventually, music music everywhere, no island au, road trip au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-22
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-08-05 16:22:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 18,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16370996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acheaptrickandacheesyoneline/pseuds/acheaptrickandacheesyoneline, https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohemgeeitscoley/pseuds/ohemgeeitscoley
Summary: Nothing sounds like a better adventure to Oliver and Tommy than roadtripping across the US on their way to their 4th college. What neither of them expect is to meet Felicity Smoak.When Felicity finds herself broken down on the side of the road, the two rich boys who come to her rescue seem like nothing more than entitled frat boys.But somehow a road trip turns to more.





	1. TRACK ONE: SUIT AND JACKET by JUDAH AND THE LION

**Author's Note:**

> Whoops we wrote a saga when we weren't paying attention. All because of a love of music, OT3 and Road Trip Fics. It's been a very long planned and talked about fic and YAY IT EXISTS NOW.
> 
> Huge thanks to Abbie and Kris. You ladies know what you did.

**I ain't trading my youth for no suit and jacket**  
**I ain't giving my freedom for your money and status**  
**So don't say I'm getting older**  
**'Cause I'll say it when I do**

 

As it turned out, it was a hell of a lot easier to buy a car new at a dealer when he was sixteen than what he was doing now. Which was handing over four hundred in cash to the guy who had shown up when Tommy had called the number scrawled on the windshield of the station wagon.

 

At least he thought it was a station wagon. His knowledge of cars was nothing compared to Oliver’s. His best friend’s knowledge sort of stopped when it cost less than fifty large though. This tan POS was lucky to be selling for the four hundred he pulled from the ATM.

 

It was exactly what they needed though. What was the point of a road trip across the country in a shiny, guaranteed-to-make-it luxury car? There was no adventure in that, no risk. They would have the rest of their lives to be predictable and safe.

 

Tommy just hoped the air conditioning worked.

 

By the time he pulled into the drive at the Queen Manor, the engine was starting to actually settle down into a noise that might have been normal once upon a time. The CD player had an old Aerosmith disc stuck in it and would not give it up no matter how much he smacked the dashboard. Thankfully, the radio and speakers both worked fine, and Tommy could turn the volume loud enough to cover the strange car noises.

 

Shutting the car off, Tommy tapped his hands against the steering wheel before getting out of the vehicle.

 

“What is that?” Thea asked, stepping into his view, her nose curled up in disgust. “Ollie said you were getting a car to drive to your new school.”

 

Rolling his eyes, Tommy ruffled her hair as he walked past her. “That is a car, Speedy.”

 

“Not a very good one.” She stuck a hand on her hip, her eyes narrowing as she studied the car. “There is no way my parents are going to let you drive that.”

 

“Where is Ollie?” Tommy asked, ignoring her comment. He didn't particularly need Thea to tell him something he already knew. “I think we should be getting this show on the road.”

 

“Wait, what?” Thea asked, and Tommy didn't need to look at her to know that her mood had shifted. “You’re leaving today? But the going away party isn't for another three weeks. No one told me.”

 

“Fuck,” Tommy muttered under his breath, turning around to look at Thea. “Thea,” he started, shoving his hands in the front of his pockets, before continuing, “We are going to be back before you know it. Hell, you'll probably have no time to miss us before one of us gets kicked out and we’re back here.”

 

Thea didn't say anything, crossing her arms instead and staring at the ground. Tommy tilted his head up, closing his eyes. Oliver was going to kill him. Leaving Thea wasn't something either of them were particularly happy about doing.

 

“It’s not like--" Tommy paused, biting his tongue to stop the words ‘the first time' from leaving his mouth. Not because it wasn't the truth, it wasn't the first time they had left for college, but because Thea didn't need the reminder. Every time they left, she reacted the same way. “We won't be gone for long.”

 

With a large sigh, Thea nodded. “You better not be.”

 

“C'mon, Thea, let's go get Ollie,” Tommy took a step toward her, holding his hand out. “You don’t want to miss the look on his face when he sees this beauty do you?”

 

Thea laughed, shaking her head as she took his outstretched hand. “You mean he doesn't know?”

 

“No,” Tommy said, opening the front door to the Queen Manor, “I thought it would be better as a surprise.”

 

“Then you’re right, I definitely want to be there when you tell him.”

 

“When Tommy tells me--" Oliver began, surprisingly close as he glanced behind Tommy, through the open door. “What the fuck is that?”

 

Thea laughed, letting go of Tommy’s hand, and running back to the car. Turning around, Tommy clapped his hand against Oliver’s shoulder, a wide smile on his face.

 

“That is our ride out of this town,” Tommy answered. “I thought that was obvious.” He squeezed Oliver’s shoulder, noting that he’d bulked up when he wasn’t paying attention this summer. It was a good look for him, Tommy decided.

 

“Then this will be the shortest trip in history,” Oliver scoffed. “I don't think it'll make it to the end of the drive.” He hefted his duffle bag up over his shoulder before walking to the hatchback.

 

Tommy tossed the keys across the way to him. “Make sure you tug on the handle a bit. It likes to stick, the guy said.”

 

“What guy?”

 

“This beauty’s previous owner.” He smiled innocently at Oliver’s glare. It was way too easy to rile his best bud up sometimes. His blue eyes got a shade or two darker every time it happened. Tommy didn't think there was anyone out there, dude or chick, straight or gay, who would think that Oliver didn't get somehow five times more attractive when he got like that. And yeah, he was including himself in that.

 

“You actually paid for this?” Oliver asked as he wrapped his fingers around the handle, pulling up a few times before the hatch opened. Tommy watched as Oliver haphazardly threw his things into the back before slamming the pieces back together. “You're really serious about this?”

 

“Your stuff is already in there,” Tommy said as an answer, shrugging when Oliver just continued to stare. “We’re halfway there?”

 

Rolling his eyes, Oliver held his arms out to Thea, pulling her in for a hug. “We are going to be living on a prayer in that thing,” Oliver teased as he released Thea.

 

“Do you think,” Oliver began, directing his attention on Thea. “Could you tell mom and dad that I'm gone… later?”

 

Thea laughed, nodding as she took a step back, walking over to give Tommy a hug. “They are going to kill you both,” Thea poked Tommy’s stomach to emphasis the end of her sentence, “But yeah. I won't say anything until they notice.”

 

“That gives us at least a solid three days lead time,” he said, poking Thea in her side. She tried to squirm out of his arms, but he managed to get a few more good wiggles of his fingers in to tickle her before she broke to hide behind Oliver.

 

Her brother stepped away from her and held up his hands. “Oh no,” he laughed, “you are not putting me in the middle of this tickle war you two are having.”

 

Tommy caught the mischievous smile Thea gave him. He returned an easy grin before sauntering away from the house. “We can stop at my place on the way out of town. Pick up my shit, then be on our way,” he said before lunging forward and grabbing Oliver, pinning his arms to his side. “Get him, Thea!” he shouted.

 

Like her nickname, she quickly dove in and went for the spots they knew would have Oliver doubling over, trying to get away. He threw them off and dove into the car, slamming the door behind him.

 

The car rattled a moment, before finally settling.

 

The three of them stared at one another before Thea threw her arms up and walked back to the house. “You are going to die in that thing,” she called out, “and that means I'm taking your PlayStation Ollie!”

 

“I will haunt you forever,” he yelled from the open passenger window. The old crank window had taken too long to get down and the door closed before she heard him. “I'll haunt you forever too, Tommy.”

 

“At least we will die young, gorgeous, and on an adventure,” he said, strolling along to the driver's seat.

 

“I would rather die old, in bed having a threesome, but if that's how you want to go about it…”

 

Unfortunately, Oliver managed to duck under the slap Tommy tried to deliver. He did not, however, avoid the shove he followed it up with.

 

**'Cause everybody I know, everybody I know**  
**Is growing old, is growing old too quickly**  
**And I don't wanna go**  
**No how am I supposed to slow it down so I can figure out who I am?**

 

The drive to get Tommy’s things was mostly uneventful. Oliver messed around with the buttons and knobs on the dashboard until the air conditioning finally kicked in. Not that it was needed right away, even for July it was a relatively mild weather day in Starling.

 

No one was home to talk to Tommy or to say that he would be missed, not that he was expecting anyone to be. So it was a simple matter of collecting the bags from the end of his bed, scanning the room one last time for forgotten items and locking the door and throwing away the key. So to speak.

 

They'd began driving east, the sun high in the sky and welcoming as they merged onto the highway.

 

“So,” Tommy said, flicking the knob to turn down the radio, “We really need to get this CD out of there. I can only handle so many hours of Aerosmith.”

 

Oliver laughed, leaning his head back against the headrest. “You're the idiot that decided to buy a cheap as fuck car to drive across the country in. I think this is your punishment.”

 

Tommy shrugged, turning the volume back up. “Well, if you want to share in that punishment than dream on, dream on…” Tommy sang, loud, and purposefully off-key.

 

Oliver had the CD out in an hour.

 

“Our first stop obviously needs to include buying some CDs. I don't even know if I have any packed,” Oliver admitted, reaching behind Tommy’s seat to grab the smaller bag that he had set there.

 

Tommy glanced over as Oliver began looking through its contents, it mostly looked like grooming supplies, a tooth brush, hair gel, a comb. Tommy rolled his eyes as he focused back on the road, only Oliver would need an entire bag of toiletries.

 

“Speaking of first stops,” Tommy said, tapping the blinker so he could get into the passing lane, “where the fuck are we going?” He tried to ignore just how freaking close he was to Oliver, turned around and digging through the bag on the back seat as he was. He’d have to work double time to keep his emotions locked down at this rate. Not even an hour into the trip and Tommy was starting to almost regret deciding to be stuck in a car with Oliver for the next few days.

 

One final glance at how good he looked in jeans, and Tommy shoved the part of him that was hella attracted to Oliver back into the designated box it had in his head. Dragging his eyes away from his passenger, he focused back on the road.

 

Apparently not finding the CDs he was looking for, Oliver zipped the bag back up before answering. “I thought Vegas would be a good first stop when I was planning routes last night.”

 

“Planning routes,” he questioned, followed by a huff of laughter. “You have never planned for a day in your life. We’ve done Vegas before too. Pretty sure we still can’t go back into the MGM.” As he checked his blind spot, he caught a brief flash of hurt on his best friend’s face before it was washed away with a smile.

 

A smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

 

Tommy hated that he was the reason Ollie suddenly hid behind that fake as hell, only for the press smile. Attempting to lighten the mood, he asked, “So, Vegas then, huh?”

 

“I don’t really think this car is going to make it that far,” Oliver teased, tapping his fingers against his jeans, “at least Vegas is somewhere we know how to come back from.”

 

Tommy ran his fingers over the steering wheel in mock comfort. “Don’t listen to him, baby,” he spoke to the car, smiling as Oliver rolled his eyes and sighed. “I know you’re going to go the distance with us.”

 

The car was silent for the next few miles, nothing but the sound of the tires rubbing against the road and Oliver’s consistent finger tapping filled the car. Tommy wasn’t sure what the best way to get to Vegas was, or, really, any way to get to Vegas in a car. His original plan had been to drive east, and only east, until they made it.

 

“I really thought I grabbed CDs and put them in my bag,” Oliver apologized. “We should grab some. And snacks. I didn’t think about food.”

 

“Tunes and food,” Tommy confirmed, nodding along with his words. “These seem like road trip staples. And a map. We are probably going to need a map.”

 

“Do you even know how to read a map?” Oliver asked.

 

“Yeah,” Tommy lied. “We’ll be fine.”

 

“We are going to die,” Oliver stated, laughing as he began fiddling with the radio, trying to find a station. “Two guys in a car who can’t read a map. You’re probably going to accidentally drive us into the Grand Canyon.”

 

Tommy shook his head, laughing, “But what a way to go.”

 

There was nothing but small towns, open fields and one 24-hour rest area for two hours. The radio station that Oliver managed to find had long since faded to nothing more than static, when Tommy finally saw a sign for a truck stop.

 

“Oh thank fuck,” he muttered after a glance at the gas level. He shut off the car before flicking Oliver in his side, waking him up from the nap that had started an hour ago. “Wake up sleepy head. We can fill up and grab a map here. Then you get to take over driving.”

 

“But I need my beauty sleep,” Oliver complained, his eyes still shut, but he began unbuckling his seat belt.

 

Tommy opened his door, instead of snarking back that Oliver was beautiful enough without any extra help. Yawning as he stretched his legs before getting out of the car. He didn't want to be the first to admit that so far life on the road wasn't exactly as glamorous as he had originally imagined.

 

Walking around the car, Tommy opened Oliver’s door, removing his makeshift pillow in the process. “Look at that, you’re awake. Now get out. Or I'm going to be picking all of the CDs and you'll be stuck with my decisions for the foreseeable future. We both know you don't want that.”

 

Oliver groaned, squinting up at Tommy as he shook his head. “Asshole,” Oliver muttered, his voice gruff from sleep. He squirmed in his seat for a moment before setting one foot out of the car. “No,” Oliver continued, moving until both of his feet were on outside of the vehicle. “No, I really don’t want that.”

 

Tommy took a step back to give him enough room to get out of the car.

 

“This place looks real inviting,” Oliver pointed out, gesturing toward the building.

 

Tommy nodded. Oliver had a point. It was obvious that the truck stop had seen better days. A row of lights above the door were burnt out, a few on the ends of the building were flickering. The paint stripes in the parking lot designated parking spaces were all mostly faded and difficult, if not impossible to see. It was also mostly empty, a few small cars were at the fueling stations, and there were a few semi trucks parked at the end of the parking lot.

 

He followed behind Oliver as they crossed the parking lot. “As long as it has a bathroom and some food, I don’t really give a damn,” Tommy said with a shrug.

 

He made a mental note to be more specific in his truck stop needs for the next stop. A clean bathroom would have gone a long way to making the place feel more like a stopover and less like a serial killer’s hideout. If he didn’t need it so much, he would have found a bush outside. It would have been cleaner.

 

Grabbing snacks for the road, he juggled the armload until he found Oliver in the aisle with music. “Hold this,” he said, dumping a bag of trail mix and Doritos toward him.

 

“We need drinks too,” Oliver said. “I can grab those once we have finished picking over this vast music selection.” He nodded at the small section of CDs on the spinning rack in front of him.

 

“Grab Jagged Little Pill,” Tommy said as soon as he saw it. “At least we’re guaranteed good cruising music with that.”

 

Oliver held the food against his chest with one arm while he cherry picked a few more CDs from the display. “Unless you’re in the mood for 80s hair metal, I think this is as good as we’re getting.”

 

He held up the cases so Tommy could see his choices. As his gaze moved from the music to Oliver, he raised an eyebrow. “Abbey Road and MJ? Seriously?” He gave the display another quick look. Shuffling his armful of snacks, he managed to get a hand free enough to snag out another disc. “How about one of the NOW collections?”

 

Oliver laughed but nodded. “I can’t believe they’re still making those.”

 

“They might be making these after we die,” Tommy joked, grabbing one of the CDs. He turned around and looked at Oliver, smiling at how ridiculous he looked carrying too many things. “Maybe we should leave everything at the counter and then go grab drinks.”

 

Oliver nodded, walking toward the counter. “And a map,” he added, letting the snack food mostly fall from his arms into the counter.

 

“Maps are in the back,” the older man behind the counter said without looking up from the paperback novel in his hand. “By the blankets and sleeping bags,” he continued slowly, turning the page of his book in the middle of the sentence. “I always recommend boys like you get two.”

 

“Boys like us?” Oliver asked, amusement on his face as he looked at Tommy.

 

Tommy smiled back, trying not to show the panic that roiled in his gut for a second. Dude wasn’t his dad, so there was no way he knew about his feelings for Oliver. Which meant he didn’t need to worry. Since it wasn’t his dad, he also knew that he wasn’t about to get into a verbal or physical beat down.

 

“Yeah,” the man responded, his finger tapping against the spine of the book. “Boys like you. The dumb-shit ones with no clue of where you're going. It's my experience that boys like you always need a second map. Don't ever know what you did with the first one.”

 

“We’ll keep that in mind,” Tommy said with a wide grin, clapping a hand on Oliver’s shoulder, leading him toward the row of chilled drinks and away from the creepy old guy.

 

The last thing they needed was to start this trip with a fist fight before they even got gas.

 

“You grab a map?” Tommy asked, nodding toward the wall at the back. “I’ll get the drinks.”

 

“Cool,” Oliver replied, walking away from Tommy and toward the maps.

 

Tommy stared at what appeared to be a never ending row of cold drinks. He wasn’t sure exactly what kind of drinks they would want for an extended trip. Neither of them had ever been in a car for this long before.

 

Grabbing a package of water and some sodas, Tommy walked away from the drinks before he could overthink the whole roadtrip. He placed the items on the counter, standing next to Oliver who had way more than one map in his hands.

 

“Three maps?” Tommy asked, narrowing his eyes as he counted again.

 

“You heard the man,” Oliver said with a shrug, placing the maps on top of the package of water. “Dumb-shit boys need at least two maps. Figured we’d need three.”

 

“Smart man you’ve got there,” the old man said as he began ringing up their items, distracting Tommy from trying to figure out what Oliver was trying to say. “You can never have too many maps.”

 

“I’m going to go fill up,” Oliver said, backing away from the counter and walking out the door without a glance back.

 

“Yeah man,” Tommy muttered under his breath, “Cause I can definitely carry all of this to the car.”

 

It took three trips and the help of an overly large, burly trucker, but Tommy finally managed to get all of the bags from the counter to the car. He slid into the passenger seat, holding up the CDs they had purchased.

 

“I know usually the driver gets to pick the music,” Tommy started, unwrapping the Thriller CD. “But you were an ass and made me carry all the groceries. So, you did this to yourself.”

 

Oliver laughed, starting the car. “Fair enough. So, Vegas?”

 

Tommy nodded, putting the CD in. “Vegas,” he confirmed. “By way of Boise?”

 

Oliver handed Tommy a map. “You’re the navigator,” he said, putting the car into drive. “You tell me.”

 

Tommy unfolded the map, pursing his lips as he tried to figure out what he was looking for. “Yeah. Boise. Follow the signs for Boise.”

 

This was going to be a long trip.

 

**And I ain't trading my dreams for no 401k**  
**And I ain't giving this fire for a cold, cold heart**  
**So don't say I'm getting colder**  
**'Cause I'll say it when I do**

 

Driving from Star City to Vegas had not, in retrospect, been the best of plans. He should have done his own research instead of trusting to Oliver’s planning. The two of them had barely made it to Boise before stumbling into the closest hotel and face planting into bed. Driving, it seemed, took far more out of both of them than expected.

 

The upside was that they could now sing every single lyric to the entire Thriller album.

 

If that could be considered an upside.

 

Tommy could barely make it forty-five minutes as driver the next day. Since Oliver was sleeping as they passed through Twin Falls, he made an executive decision and followed the directions on a brochure he’d picked up at the hotel for the Potato Museum.

 

It was full of potatoes.

 

The cafe was also full of potatoes.

 

And now the car keys had a potato.

 

Instead of the diversion letting him stretch his legs and psych himself up for more driving, Tommy ended up feeling more tired from all of the carbs. Dealing with a cranky Oliver as his navigator had him realizing why road trips weren’t anything his family ever did, even before his mom died.

 

They were both ready to kill the other when the lights of the Strip came into view. Oliver reached over to shut off the CD before almost slamming his foot down on the gas. Tommy didn’t know if the sudden bout of Mad Max was due to the thought of a non-lumpy bed or actual real food, but he wasn’t going to bitch about it.

 

Tommy wasn’t sure if he had ever spent more time in a bed than he did that night. He wasn’t even sure if Oliver had left to go gamble, or drink. Oliver had mentioned maybe heading down to the casino, but all Tommy could dream about was the comfort of his bed.

 

If there was someone else in the bed with him in those dreams...Well, dreams were dreams.

 

Rolling onto his side, Tommy could see that Oliver was still asleep in the bed next to his own. He glanced at the clock, groaning at the time. He couldn’t think of the last time he slept over twelve hours, not without a massive story behind it.

 

“Ollie,” Tommy said, grabbing a spare pillow and throwing it at Oliver’s head. “Ollie, wake up, man.”

 

“Fuck off, Tommy,” Oliver muttered, grabbing the pillow that Tommy had tossed and holding it against his chest.

 

“Seriously, Oliver, what’s the plan, man?” Tommy asked, shifting until he was lying flat on his back. Tommy waited for Oliver to answer, counting the different waves and grooves of the ceiling. “How long are we staying here? Where do we go from here?”

 

“Jesus, Tommy,” Oliver groaned, throwing the pillow back at Tommy. “It’s too damn early for these questions.”

 

“It’s one, Ollie,” Tommy pointed out with a laugh. “In the afternoon.”

 

“It could be three days from now and it’d still be too damn early.”

 

Tommy got out of bed, throwing on one of the t-shirts from his half open duffle bag. “I’m going to get food, finish your sleep and be ready to talk about the hard questions when I get back.”

 

Oliver shook his head. “I hate you,” he said while pulling the sheet over his head.

 

Surprisingly, Oliver showed up at the restaurant twenty minutes later.

 

“I think,” Oliver said, as he sat down next to Tommy, taking a drink from Tommy’s orange juice, “I want to go to the Grand Canyon next.”

 

Tommy tilted his head to the side, glaring at Oliver as he grabbed his drink back from him. Tommy had expected him to say that he wanted to stay in Vegas and that road tripping across the country had been a fine idea, but sucked in reality, and that they should stay, party and catch a flight later in the month.

 

Honestly, Tommy had been ready to agree to that plan.

 

“The Grand Canyon?” Tommy asked, taking a bite of his food. “The big giant hole in Arizona?”

 

“Yeah,” Oliver answered, reaching for a fry off of Tommy’s plate. He laughed as Tommy swatted at his hand, “You never finish all your food, I don’t know why you fight this.”

 

“Because it’s mine. You can order your own,” Tommy said, but moved his plate closer to Oliver. “You really want to go to the Grand Canyon?”

 

“I’ve never been? It sounds cool.” Oliver shrugged. “And you made me go to a potato museum. So, I think you owe me.” He grabbed another fry and swirled it in the ketchup left on the plate.

 

“We can map it out, I guess,” Tommy offered. “Figure out how to get there.” He flagged down the waitress, motioning towards Oliver. “Can we get another order of fries so he stops stealing mine?”

 

“And some coffee,” Oliver added, flashing a smile. “Like, a gallon hooked up to an IV drip if you've got it. I need to wake up.”

 

The waitress gave them a bored look, nodding. “Yeah, sure,” she replied, a tight smile on her face. “I’ll bring that right out.”

 

Tommy grabbed the map, unfolding it and refolding it until only the squares with Nevada and a few of the surrounding states were visible. “So, obviously we’re here,” He said, pointing to Las Vegas on the map. “I’ve gathered that the lines are roads, so we just need to find a road that goes from Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon,” he dropped his finger slightly so it followed the map south, “which is somewhere down here.”

 

“How did either of us get into an Ivy League school?” Oliver asked, shaking his head. “When neither of us knows how to read a map.”

 

“We’re going to figure it out,” Tommy answered with a shrug, “And I can read maps. Just not, you know, a driving map. I can tell you where China is on a map. It’s not like I ever really had a need for this kind of thing before.”

 

“You mean before you decided driving across the country was a good idea?” Oliver teased, finishing the last of Tommy’s drink.

 

“I thought that I could have used a GPS,” Tommy protested. “I didn't know they were actually built into the car.” He grabbed Oliver’s mug of coffee as soon as the waitress set it down and chugged some of it back. He tried hard not to show how much it burned his tongue, because payback.

 

Oliver raised an eyebrow, waiting for Tommy to finish. “You done?” he complained, shaking his head in exasperation.

 

“Yeah,” Tommy said, setting the mug back down, “I’m done. That was hot.”

 

“No shit,” Oliver laughed, grabbing the map from Tommy. “Grand Canyon isn’t actually south of us, it’s to the east, and a little bit to the north,” Oliver paused, running his fingers along the map until he saw the words he was looking for, “It’s here. So we just, we need to figure which one of these lines is the best way to get us there.”

 

The waitress was about three tables away when she turned back around, shaking her head. “I really don’t want to hear about two boys who got lost and killed trying to go to the Grand Canyon,” she said as she walked back up to the table. “You take I-15 north for most of it, a little over a hundred miles. Then, you’ll start to see the signs and, listen, this is really important, you follow the fucking signs. It’s a bunch of smaller highways until you get down to the canyon. I’m not even telling you the names, just follow the signs and you’ll be fine.”

 

“I-15 north for about 120 miles, and then follow the signs,” Oliver repeated, smiling at the waitress, “I think we can manage that. Thank you.”

 

“Yeah, thank you, Anne,” Tommy added, reading her name tag.

 

She gave them a small smile before walking away.

 

“So,” Oliver said after a few minutes, picking at the remnants of french fries left on his plate. “Now we know where we are going and how we are getting there. The only real question left is when do you want to go?”

 

“Arizona was your idea,” Tommy protested. “When do you want to leave?”

 

Oliver shrugged. “Why not now? We’re full of food, I’m actually feeling awake, and if we pick up some car snacks on the way out of town, we’re good to go.” He sipped at his coffee, that line appearing between his eyebrows that meant he was thinking. “If we stop at a grocery store,” he began slowly, “we could pick up supplies to make sandwiches or something. Real food, y’know? Might keep us from going off on one another when we get hungry.”

 

Tommy nodded slowly. He hadn’t thought about how only snack foods might have been affecting how the two of them were acting on the trip. He’d been ready to mark it all down to a shit idea in a shit car that would have worked as a clown car if it was just a bit smaller. Forced confinement and all that. More than likely, it was why being around Oliver was affecting him more than normal too. Hangry made so much more sense.

 

“That’s actually a really good idea.”

 

Oliver drained his coffee before giving him a look. That one eyebrow raise that he perfected back in high school as shorthand for WTF. “You sound surprised, Tommy.”

 

Tommy waved him off. “Wasn’t something I thought of, us getting hangry at one another.”

 

Oliver laughed. “Hangry?”

 

“It’s a Thea term,” Tommy said, rolling his eyes. “Angry and hungry. When you get angry because you--”

 

“Because you’re hungry,” Oliver cut him off. “Yeah, I know the term, buddy. Just never expected to hear it from you.”

 

Seeing Anne coming over with the bill, Tommy went for his wallet. “You know I’m a delicate flower, Oliver,” he said. Even he couldn’t keep a straight face for more than a moment before they both started laughing.

 

“You two are really sweet together,” Anne broke in. “Make sure that you stay at the Canyon until sunset. It will make the best background you have ever seen.” Tommy noticed that she seemed more at ease with both of them there than she had been when it was just him at the table. She wasn’t trying to flirt with him to get a better tip.

 

The realization that Anne thought that he and Oliver were together hit Tommy about forty-five seconds after she walked away from the table. He turned around to look for her so he could correct her, but really, he supposed, it didn’t matter. And honestly, it wasn’t the first time someone had made that assumption about them.

 

Apparently life-long friendships had similar characteristics as romantic relationships.

 

Tommy was mostly surprised that Oliver didn’t say anything. He was usually the one that corrected people, which explained why Tommy took so long to catch on to Anne’s belief, Oliver always noticed first. Oliver always corrected them.

 

Something was definitely going on with Oliver.

 

“I’m going to go pay,” Oliver said, grabbing the check from the table as he stood. “You want to get the car loaded? I’ll ask the cashier about a grocery store nearby.”

 

“Yeah,” Tommy agreed, stretching as he stood up. “I’ll meet you out front.”

 

After a few awkward conversations with random people in the grocery store, because how exactly does one know if fruit is ripe, Tommy and Oliver had a cooler full of food that they were pretty sure would last them all the way to… well, wherever they were going next.

 

They had been driving for almost an hour when the air coming out of the vents in the car began to turn warmer. Oliver spent another twenty minutes fiddling with the knobs and hitting the dashboard in different places before he gave up, sitting back in his seat and rolling his window down.

 

“It’s fucked,” Oliver said, nodding toward Tommy’s window, “Roll it down. Next time we stop I’ll get the ones in the back down too.”

 

Tommy rolled the window down, sticking his hand out to feel the wind push back like he always wanted to when he was a kid. “So, maybe I should have sprung for a $1,500 car?”

 

Oliver laughed, shrugging. “Actually, I’m getting kind of attached to this one. Busted air conditioner and all.”

 

“I’m going to remind you that you said that in about an hour.”

 

“As long as the CD player keeps working and all the windows roll down,” Oliver said, “then we can get to someplace that can fix this thing. Better than being that poor schmuck.”

 

Tommy followed Oliver’s pointing and finally noticed the bright red car on the side of the road. The closer he got to it, the more he noticed it rivaled the look of their own. The only thing that made theirs better than the one on the side of the road was that at least their $400 junker was still moving.

 

Even being raised by Malcolm, Tommy considered himself something of a gentleman. It had become his own sort of rebellion towards his dad’s rules once he’d learned the hard way to not go directly against orders. That’s all the rules and requests were: orders disguised with a facade of caring. But it was impossible for even Malcolm to get upset with him for showing manners. Oh, he would want to, but it wouldn’t look good for The Merlyn Name if he got upset with his son for donating half a year’s allowance to charity.

 

It was that mental path that had him slowing down the closer they got to the car. The hood was already up, so the guy probably had it covered. They could always give him a bottle or two of their water. Maybe he’d know how to fix their AC.

 

“Damn,” Oliver breathed out as Tommy rolled to a stop in front.

 

“What?” Opening his door, Tommy turned to look.

 

It was not a guy.

 

She was leaning over the engine, dressed in a pair of shorts and he assumed a shirt he just couldn't see. But that didn't matter. No, what mattered was she had what might be the most perfect ass and the greatest legs he had ever seen.

 

Oliver’s assessment suddenly made sense. “Damn,” he agreed.

 

**Some of us surviving**  
**Some of us just roaming**  
**Some of us just hoping the world will move more slowly**  
**And some of us alive**  
**We're all gonna die one day**


	2. Track Two: Summer Love by Justin Timberlake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we are back with Chapter Two! We hope you enjoy a bit of this trip from Felicity's POV.
> 
> Song for this chapter found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DIf0F38vas

Logically, she heard the sound of a car slowing down, of gravel crunching underneath tires because said car was stopping. She was even pretty sure that she did hear car doors shutting and two voices as they walked away from their vehicle.

 

But there was a problem in front of her, steam was rising from her engine like she put a package of dry ice under the hood trying to set the scene for a haunted house. And she couldn’t see a damn thing with the steam constantly fogging her own glasses up. Liquid was pooled underneath the car, but even with her t-shirt wrapped around her hand, she still couldn’t touch anything without searing pain.

 

The car was too hot to do anything. She lifted her black t-shirt to her face to wipe away the beads of sweat that had been collecting on her hairline. Probably smeared some of the oil from the car around too. Even in just her shorts and sports bra, she was too hot. There was no way she would be able to do much more until nightfall.

 

She was a little distracted with trying to figure out how in the hell she was going to get the car working to at least get her somewhere not in the fucking desert. So when she felt a hand on her shoulder, she didn’t really think before she attempted to put the three-month self-defense class to use and swung at whoever was trying to attack her.

 

She struck his face, and while she’s pretty sure it actually hurt her more than him, he backed away, grabbing onto his chin. Felicity’s eyes widened as she looked at him. He was tall and fit, with way-too-long blonde hair.

 

Actually, he would probably be attractive if he got a haircut. But he had that… entitled white boy look about him that had her insides hardening, preparing for the worst.

 

The other man held his hands up. He looked cleaner, with his short black hair and bright blue eyes.

 

“Whoa,” he said, looking at the other man and then back at her. “We aren’t here to hurt you. We were driving by, saw your hood up. Figured we’d try to help.”

 

Felicity relaxed a little bit, dropping her arms as she looked back at her car. Right. Her car. She probably did look a bit like a damsel in distress with a broken down car in the middle of the desert.

 

“Sorry,” she quietly told the man she had hit, even as she cradled her hand close to her body. They didn’t cover the aftermath in the self-defense class. Where your hand hurt from hitting a guy who was trying to help and all you felt was awkward.  Or when the guy’s friend looked more like some sort of TV Star and was smiling at you like he knew all the secrets of the world.

 

“It’s fine,” the blonde one said, giving her a small, but obviously pained smile. “What’s going on with the car?”

 

“Oh,” Felicity said, turning around to look back at the still smoking car. “I think my radiator cracked.”

 

“Right,” The dark haired one said softly as he walked over to where she was standing to get a better look at the car. “Which one of those things is the radiator?”

 

Felicity laughed, closing her eyes as she shook her head. Just her luck. The first people to stop to help her knew less about cars then she did. “Which one do you think it is?” She teased, looking over at the guy.

 

“Uh,” he paused, his eyes wide, a soft blush creeping up his neck. “That one?” he asked, pointing at the engine.

 

Felicity shook her head, turning back around and facing away from the car. “I appreciate you guys stopping, really, I do. You’re not the first car that’s driven by, but… you guys don’t know anything about cars do you?”

 

“We know how to drive them?” The guy across from her said with a shrug. “I’m Oliver, by the way.”

 

“Felicity,” she said in response without thought.

 

Maybe it wasn’t the best idea to give her real name to two strangers in the middle of a relatively deserted stretch of a highway in the middle of nowhere.

 

“Tommy,” the other one offered. “And look, we may not know anything about cars, but we can give you a ride? Where are you headed?”

 

“Massachusetts,” Felicity groaned. “I’ll be fine. I’m just going to wait until everything cools down and then look at it again and figure out how to fix it. Somehow. I have to.”

 

“We could at least take you to the next town?” Oliver offered, pointing back to their car. “We have plenty of room. I’m sure one of these small towns has a tow company and a mechanic.”

 

“That’s nice, but I can’t really afford any of that,” Felicity gave him a tight smile. “Besides, I’ve seen a horror movie before, I know what happens to the girl who gets in the back of a car with strangers, especially ones with hair like yours,” Felicity flinched, squeezing her eyes shut, “Not that you look like a serial killer, only you sort of actually do, but that isn’t something that I need to tell you, I’m going to stop talking any second now.”

 

Oliver laughed, this hearty laugh that made Felicity want to hear it again.

 

“I wish you wouldn’t,” Tommy said after she finished, a wide smile on his face, “I’ve been trying to figure out how to tell him about that haircut for months.”

 

Felicity shook her head, looking down at the gravel under her feet. “I appreciate it. I really do. But I’m just going to wait it out, I’m sure I’ll be able to fix it once everything cools off. Besides, I can’t just leave my stuff here.”

 

“Bring it with you,” Oliver offered. “Really, we have more than enough room. We can at least get you to a mechanic. And get you out of the heat.”

 

Felicity nodded, looking back and forth between the two of them for a few minutes. “Okay,” she bit down on her bottom of  lip, before walking around to the back of her car to grab her small suitcase and purse. She made short work of grabbing out a dark purple tank top and shoving the now gross shirt into the suitcase before hauling them out of the trunk. “But I just want to throw it out there,” she said as she walked back toward them, “if you kill me, I am going to haunt you forever. And I am full of vengeance and you don’t want that kind of bad karma.”

 

“Noted,” Tommy said, gesturing to the car, “Your chariot awaits, my lady.”

 

Felicity snorted as she walked with them to the car, opening the door to the backseat to throw her things in. The advantage of moving into a dorm: traveling very, very light. She slid in without giving herself another moment to second guess her decision to go with them.

 

“Where are you guys headed anyway?” She asked as they got into the car.

 

“The Grand Canyon,” Tommy answered as he started the car, pulling back out onto the interstate. “You?”

 

“Same,” Felicity said, twisting her hands in her lap. “Well, actually I’m on my way to Boston. I’m a senior at MIT. The Grand Canyon was really just supposed to be a pit stop. Apparently a foolish one.”

 

“Can’t have been too foolish,” Oliver said, turning in his seat to look at her. He handed her an unopened water bottle and smiled. “No more than us roadtripping cross country in the first car Tommy found for sale.” He hooked a thumb toward Tommy and rolled his eyes.

 

“This isn't your normal car then?” Felicity asked. Thank goodness if it wasn't. She didn't think that anyone would ever voluntarily own a car that was worse than her own fifteen year old Kia. The passenger door never opened, stuck locked since she'd bought it when she started at MIT three years ago. The front right speaker went out every time she used the brake, and it liked to rattle at anything over 55.

 

But it was her car. She had bought it on her own and it was hers.

 

She had assumed that it was the same sort of circumstance for Tommy and Oliver.

 

“No,” Tommy said, shaking his head. “That would be a Mercedes.”

 

Felicity looked around at the car they were in, with the cracked seats and stained floor. The seat that was currently sticking to her thighs as sweat cooled. That would be fun later. Looking back at Tommy and Oliver, they didn’t actually seem like guys whose car would have cracked seats and stained floors. Felicity had spent a lot of her childhood sneaking around the Vegas casino floors when her mom couldn’t find a babysitter for her and she knew how the wealthy carried themselves, the way their clothes just looked different, better fabric, better cut… better something.

 

Felicity would bet that Tommy’s other car wasn’t a run-down 80s Mercedes either.

 

She had gotten into a run-down car with two men who apparently had money, but still chose to drive a car she wasn’t sure was going to make it to the Grand Canyon.

 

She really was going to die.

 

“Well,” Felicity said, tapping her fingers against her thigh. “This seems worse than that.”

 

She saw Tommy’s shoulders rise above the seatback in a small shrug. “Don’t know about that,” he said. “I mean, the air conditioning does still work in the Mercedes.”

 

Oliver hummed in agreement. “The seats are definitely more comfortable. But the company hasn't been bad so far.” Oliver gave a definitive nod, laughing as he glanced over at Tommy. “I think she's a keeper,” Oliver finished, brushing his fingers across the dash.

 

Felicity sighed. She couldn't explain why she felt comfortable around them. It was clear they were from completely different worlds, and she didn't even know who they really were… but she wanted too. She wasn't big on risk. You don't get to MIT on scholarships by taking a lot of uncalculated risks, but there were no calculations here.

 

Just her gut telling her to stay.

 

“Does she have a name?” Felicity asked, leaning her head slightly back against the seat. “And why is she a female? I feel like this is a more masculine car. It has that angry little growl thing it does when Tommy wants it go faster, and no girl would be caught dead with headlights shaped like this one. So really, I think it needs a boy’s name.”

 

Oliver turned around to look at Felicity, an amused smile on his face. “No name yet, but when we form the naming committee, we would be happy to review your application.”

 

Felicity glared at him playfully. “You expecting a lot of applicants?”

 

“I don’t know, ‘name Oliver Queen’s car’ does sound like some sort of fundraiser shit my mom would sign me up for. I'm probably good for at least a few applicants.”

 

Felicity tilted her head. Oliver Queen. Why did that name sound so familiar?

 

“Only if they never see the car they’ve named,” laughs Tommy.

 

Queen... Queen… It wasn't one of the scholarships she had won. Though she vaguely remembered applying for one with Queen in the title.

 

If her phone wasn't already dead due to her looking up what was wrong with her car, she could have googled him.

 

“Besides,” Tommy continued, “this is my car. And Malcolm would never sign me up for some charity event like that.”

 

“Maybe not,” Oliver conceded. “But let's not pretend for a second that if my mom looked at you and was all ‘Thomas Merlyn, you will be at this fundraiser and your car will be named by the poor girl who wins’ you wouldn't be there.”

 

“I could say n-"

 

“Eh,” Oliver cut him off, holding up his hand. “You've been my best friend my whole life Tommy. You don't tell my mom no.”

 

She froze while pulling her hair up into a ponytail.

 

Merlyn. Tommy Merlyn. Oliver Queen. As in Merlyn Global and Queen Consolidated. She was in this rusted, beat down car with two billionaires. Or heirs to billionaires. She really had no idea how that worked.

 

She sort of preferred thinking they were serial killers.

 

“Wow,” Felicity said, closing her eyes. She had no idea if Tommy and Oliver had continued talking and she was interrupting them or if they even heard her.

 

She had maybe $500 to her name until her scholarship money came in. She had mapped out a list of campgrounds she could crash at in her car on her way back to MIT. Gas was going on her getting-very-close-to-the-limit credit card.

 

The car towing and repair, if it was more than the $500, wasn’t going to happen. She would be stuck in the desert, and have to hope that her mom could make some impressive tips and help her get a plane ticket to Boston. Shifting in her seat, her legs came unstuck from the seats and she was able to lean forward and almost dangle her head between knees. Deep breaths, she kept telling herself. It would all work out.

 

The breeze from the open windows felt good on her neck, rapidly cooling her off from her time outside. Black hair might have been a good plan for Boston, but it held way too much heat for way too long here in the desert. Felicity closed her eyes and let the wind wash over her, imagining the stresses disappearing with the wind. It didn’t make them all go away, but the tight band that had formed around her chest when her car had stalled out was slowly disappearing.

 

“Hey, are you okay?” Oliver’s voice was gentle, as was his careful hand on her shoulder. “Are you gonna puke, or something? I can try to find something for you to use as a trash bag.” She heard more than saw him rummaging around the myriad bags at his feet until a plastic bag with a local grocery store name was pressed toward her.

 

Felicity sat back up, resting her hand over Oliver's and the bag.

 

“I can pull over if you need me to,” Tommy offered.

 

She shook her head before realizing that only Oliver was able to see her. “I'm good,” she reassured them both. “But thank you, both of you. I was just…” She chewed on her lip, unsure how to explain she was having money issues to two billionaires. Or that the thought of having issues was enough to send her into a small anxiety attack.

 

“What sort of music do you have?” she asked. When all else failed, change the subject.

 

Tommy laughed, and the sound carried over the wind from the windows. It was different from Oliver’s deeper laugh, but no less beautiful to hear. Like before, it was a sound she wanted to hear again.

 

“We have exactly five CDs,” Tommy said through his laughter. “None of which--”

 

“Six,” Oliver corrected. “You forgot the one this baby came with.”

 

“You only brought six CDs?” She felt her eyebrows raise in incredulity. “What were you going to do once you got tired of them, play the License Plate Game?”

 

“The what now?”

 

She leaned between the two front seats so she could stare at Tommy, and then at Oliver, who just shrugged at her. Both of them seemed to have no idea what she was talking about.  “This is your first ever road trip,” she realized.

 

“Thank goodness for you two that you picked me up.” She dove into the hatchback, digging through her smaller bag. If she remembered correctly, she had shoved her… yes, there it was!  Handing the thick CD case up to the front, she smiled at them both. “This is not my first rodeo.”

 

**Riding in the drop top with the top down**  
**Saw you switching lanes girl**  
**Pull up to the red light looking right**  
**Come on let me get your name girl**  
**Tell me where you’re from, What you do, What you like**  
**Let me pick your brain girl**  
**And tell me how they got that pretty little face**  
**On that pretty little frame girl**  
**But let me show you round, Let me take you out**  
**Betcha we can have some fun girl**

 

Good news: the Grand Canyon was every bit as amazing as she had hoped. The sunset from the walkway left her breathless with the vast swaths of red and gold and orange. The sky looked like it was reflecting the fire that made up the canyon walls. Oliver had snapped a selfie of the three of them on their phones, since he had the longest arms, all of them wearing huge grins.

 

Bad news: there was not a mechanic around the Grand Canyon, as they had all hoped. In fact, the closest one was more than an hour away in Flagstaff. That was according to the Park Ranger she asked.

 

More bad news: neither Tommy nor Oliver could read a map.

 

Good news: she had been plotting road trips cross-country since she was twelve and was trying to figure out how she could make it to Space Camp without flying. To her, if she could figure out a way to take the most expensive part of travel out of the equation--plane tickets--then maybe her mom would let her go!

 

For now, it wasn’t really worth worrying about. Not when she was finally here.

 

“It’s gorgeous,” Felicity muttered, leaning against the railing despite her instinct to stay as far away from the edge as possible. The Grand Canyon was terrifying.

 

“Want to go down into it?” Tommy asked from her left. He leaned over the railing next to her, apparently waiting to just fall on into the canyon.

 

She quickly backed away from the edge, bumping into Oliver. He steadied her before she could stumble, and she tipped her head back to smile her thanks. “What do you mean, go into it?” She turned her attention back to Tommy, trying to ignore Oliver’s hands on her hips.

 

She also tried to ignore the small feeling of disappointment when Tommy turned around and she could no longer look at his butt in his tight designer jeans.

 

“Do you want to try to go further down?” Tommy rephrased his question, waving his hand at a group behind them. “I overheard them talking about some trails that follow the ledge and some spots that can be used for rock climbing.”

 

She gulped, unconsciously stepping somehow closer to Oliver and further from the guard rail. “Nope,” Felicity said, shaking her head extra hard, “I would really rather not do that. But I mean, obviously,” she started, stepping away from Oliver until his hand dropped from her hip,“if you guys want to go do that, you totally can. You don't need to worry about me. I can probably find another ride. Or wait. Or just find another ride, because why would I wait for you or you wait for me.”

 

“Because you've been picked to go on this grand adventure with us?” Oliver offered from beside her. “And because we promised we'd get you to a mechanic safely. We keep our promises.”

 

Felicity smiled, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear, her fingers rubbing the ends of the strands between her fingers. “I’m just, I’m sort of really scared of heights,” Felicity admitted, glancing down at her Converse.

 

She wasn’t sure why she felt so embarrassed admitting this to them. It wasn’t like being scared of heights was some terrible thing, or even that weird of a thing. But she felt oddly exposed, standing in the middle of a national monument with two strangers.

 

“Then we won't make you go out on the glass walkway,” Oliver assured her. “I'm going to go take a look though.” He gave her shoulder a small squeeze before he stepped back from her.

 

Felicity couldn't remember the last time someone had squeezed her shoulder as a form of comfort. Was he even trying for comfort? There was a good chance he wasn't even aware of his actions, she mused, watching him give Tommy a playful shove towards the walkway.

 

Of the two of them, Oliver was by far the more tactile. It hadn't taken long at all to notice that. Tommy, on the other hand, seemed almost hesitant to touch anyone, though it would take a bit to notice under all his grandiose talking and moving.

 

Escaping from Oliver's hold, Tommy ducked under his arms and came to stand next to her again. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans and gave a mock shudder. “I'm not sure why he wants to go look down and see nothing,” he told her. “The idea of nothing but glass between me and a Wile E. Coyote Impression? No thanks.”

 

Felicity smiled, looking away as Oliver stepped onto the glass platform. “I'm sure it's gorgeous. I looked at a lot of pictures. And I know how structurally it is sound. It's not going to fall without some force of God,” Felicity bit down on her lower lip, tucking that same piece of hair behind her ear the wind kept catching. “And I still can't bring myself to risk it.”

 

It did look beautiful though. Even without going out on to the platform, Felicity was amazed at just how breathtaking the imagery really was, from the way the shadows of the canyon added deep colors to the jagged lines of the rock, to the contrast of the smooth top and bright skies.

 

It looked like a painting was right in front of her. Almost as though if she could only get over her fears and reach out to touch it, the paint would still be wet under her fingertips.

 

“That explains why I can't go out there then,” Tommy said, pulling Felicity’s attention back to him. “I try not to go looking for ways to tempt God to smite me. Standing on a glass platform above a giant hole? Talk about temptation.”

 

Felicity snorted, blushing as she raised her hand to cover her mouth. “Stop it,” she laughed, using her free hand to gently push against Tommy’s shoulder. “I don't think God goes out of his way to smite good people.”

 

“And I'm good people?” Tommy asked, suddenly serious. His eyes darkened before he looked down at the ground.

 

Felicity nodded, lifting her fingers to under his chin until he looked back up at her.

 

“You are,” she said with a conviction that she wasn't sure was justified. But it felt right.

 

She didn't know Tommy. Not really, not yet. But for some reason, she wanted to. And her instincts told her to trust him.

 

To trust Oliver.

 

Taking a step back, her hand fell down to her side. She wasn't usually so touchy with strangers.

 

“I mean,” Felicity added, twisting her fingers around the hem of her shirt. “I don't think someone who picks up a stranded girl in the Nevada desert can really be classified as a bad person any day of the week.”

 

“I could still be a serial killer,” Tommy pointed out with a laugh.

 

Felicity shook her head, squinting as she looked over at him. “You could be,” she agreed with a small shrug. “But probably not.”

 

It was comfortable standing next to him, watching the sun slowly sink. She didn't think she had ever  felt this comfortable around people before. The ever present worry that she was talking too much or being viewed as a know-it-all kept that from happening. Try as she might, even her spending time with her mom often left her on edge. The too tight clothes and colorful makeup would never be Felicity, no matter how much her mom tried.

 

She'd rather hide behind her darker colors and heavy eyeliner. Her mom used makeup to invite others' attention; Felicity would rather use it to keep them at arm's length.

 

These two though…

 

Maybe it was the magic of road trips. Cutting through all the layers until the core was visible, like an Everlasting Gobstopper.

 

They stood in silence the rest of the time that Oliver was on the platform. She wasn't sure how long they were standing there, just standing and watching the sky darken and change colors, before she noticed Oliver walking back toward them. The sun had almost completely disappeared, only a few fading rays still visible.

 

“That was...” Oliver started talking once he was almost to them. His voice was a little too loud, but he wasn't quite shouting. His eyes were wide with emotion, his smile broad and uncaring. “That was… incredible. Did you guys see the sky? The colors? The way the canyon actually shifts colors and how the shadows impact the way we perceive the actual shape? And to be able to look down and see… well nothing. I can't…” he trailed off, the large smile on his face grew as he shook his head, “I can’t really explain it.”

 

Felicity couldn't help smiling back at Oliver, his excitement contagious. She glanced over at Tommy, who was looking at Oliver as if he was seeing something new. “It looked amazing from up here,” Felicity said, looking back to Oliver. “But the whole nothing underneath you thing is terrifying.”

 

“It is,” Oliver admitted. “But that's kind of what makes the experience so surreal? You can look out and see nothing else but the canyon too. I'm not doing a very good job at explaining any of this.”

 

“But you're glad you went?” Tommy asked slowly, sliding his hands into the front pockets of his jeans.

 

“But I'm glad I went,” Oliver echoed with a nod. “I'd go back out, if either of you wanted to give it a shot.”

 

Felicity quickly shook her head, laughing when Tommy did the same.

 

“Thank you for making this pit stop for me,” she told them both. “It was everything I hoped it would be.”

 

“It was a good reason for us to come too,” Oliver said quietly. “I’ve always wanted to see the Grand Canyon.”

 

Tommy glanced over at him, eyes widened briefly in surprise. “Really?” Oliver nodded, and Felicity caught what she swore was a hint of a blush on his cheeks. “Why did you never come before now?” he asked.

 

“Not like mom and dad were going to go someplace as normal as this on holiday.” Oliver shook his head as he let out a dismissive huff. “Europe? Sure. New York was always open to explore too. But national parks or outdoors of any sort?”

 

Tommy made a face and wrapped an arm around Oliver’s shoulder. “Yeah, I can’t really see Moira standing out on the walkway there with you.”

 

“I can’t see anyone standing out on that walkway,” Felicity said. “At least not by choice!”

 

Oliver raised an eyebrow at her. She felt her cheeks warm and knew there was a flush sneaking its way across her skin. Turning quick in an attempt to hide it, she started to walk back to the parking lot.

 

They were, of course, on either side of her within moments thanks to their stupidly long legs.

 

“It was really nice of you guys to drive me out here,” Felicity started. “But you shouldn't have to drive me to Flagstaff, it's completely out of your way.” She paused by the passenger door of Tommy's car and gave them both a hesitant smile. As much as she wanted to keep traveling with them, she didn’t want to impose. Especially not if they were on any sort of timeline like she was to get to school.

 

Tommy shook his head, opening the door for Felicity. “No, it really isn't.”

 

“It's an hour and a half south of here,” Felicity argued, leaning against the door to the front passenger seat. “You guys are headed east.”

 

“We are headed wherever the hell we want,” Oliver reminded her as he walked to the backseat. “And we want to go to Flagstaff.” He folded himself almost in half in order to fit inside, but sprawled out once he was seated.

 

“Besides,” Tommy said, smiling brightly at Felicity. “We think we like having you around. You have the good music and you can read a map. We were literally lost before you.”

 

Felicity rolled her eyes, her face heating up again as she nodded. “Okay. As long as you are sure.”

 

“We are,” Tommy and Oliver said in unison.

 

It was kind of cute when they did that.

 

**Cause we can it do fast fast slow**  
**Whichever way you want it done girl**  
**But let me buy you drinks better yet rings**  
**Do it how you want it done girl**  
**And who would a thought that you could be the one 'cause**

There was a part of her that wanted to protest the fact that they got a room at the hotel in Flagstaff. Given how not effective her protest about being driven this far had been, Felicity knew that telling either Tommy or Oliver that they didn't need to get her a room would have been pointless. But once they realized she didn’t have money for a room of her own, they’d insisted she take the extra bed in theirs.

 

Also, where was she going to stay, if not in the hotel? It would be one thing to sleep in her car. It was another altogether to sleep in what was basically the car of strangers. Even if they didn't feel like strangers.

 

The hotel room would have cost more than she had budgeted for gas, too. The whole beggars can't be choosers thing made the decision a lot easier for her.

 

The room had two beds and a pullout couch. While Felicity tried to convince Oliver that he didn't have to take the couch, he insisted that it wouldn't be right if he had the bed and she was stuck on the uncomfortable mattress.

 

So there she was, waking up in a veritable cocoon of hotel pillows and blankets the next day. And honestly, probably one of the best nights of sleep in her life. Pulling one of the pillows to her chest, Felicity sighed as she stretched and slowly began the process of waking up.

 

She glanced over at Tommy, blushing slightly as she found him looking at her. “Morning,” she said sleepily, holding up her hand in a small wave.

 

Tommy grinned, laughing quietly as he repeated her action. “Morning.”

 

Felicity bit down on her lip, resisting the immediate urge to run her hand through her hair to figure out how frizzy it might have gotten overnight. She didn't really want to know how bad she must look with bedhead. Glancing over at the couch, she smiled at the sight of Oliver, who was still asleep.

 

His mouth was partly open, his hair sticking up in every direction possible and he looked… he just looked peaceful.

 

It was kind of unfair how he managed to still look cute that early in the morning, but then again, so did Tommy.

 

Billionaire boy problems, she was sure.

 

“What time is it?” Felicity asked, sitting up and looking for the clock that she was pretty sure was on the nightstand when she fell asleep.

 

“Oh,” Tommy said, reaching down in between the nightstand and the bed and pulling up the clock. “It is 6:47. Way too early for anyone to be up.”

 

Felicity tilted her head, eyebrow raised. She kept looking back at the clock and then to him.

 

“The numbers, they, uh, they keep me awake,” he explained, answering her unspoken question.

 

She nodded. “The light of them or…”

 

“That’s part of it,” he admitted. He sat up a bit more, running a hand through his hair and then scrubbed at his face. Felicity looked down at her lap when it hit her that she was staring at Tommy's bare chest, ogling his abs, and sort of hoping that maybe the sheet would fall down a bit more.

 

“You could have unplugged it,” she told him. Keep talking, use it as a distraction from how good Tommy looked not wearing a shirt. Maybe she could eventually forget it.

 

“I don't sleep well normally. The light from the numbers is just a good reason to give that…” he trailed off. Sucking in a deep breath, he continued, “a good reason that most people don't question. The light does bother me a lot of times. I try to do what I can to sleep.”

 

She reached for her glasses on the nightstand and blinked a few times, Tommy coming into focus. It was always better to have a conversation with someone when you could actually see them clearly. “I think I have some tylenol PM in my bag if you--”

 

“No!” Tommy cut her off sharply.

 

On the couch Oliver jerked, and both of them held their breath to see if they had woken him up on accident.

 

“No,” Tommy said again, more softly, once it was clear Oliver was still asleep. “I appreciate the offer, but no. Even drugged, I still can’t sleep. I just move and think slower. If I need to wake up quick, it makes it hard.”

 

Felicity felt a nail break under her teeth and realized she’d been chewing at one again. She glanced down at the jagged edge on her pinky, frowning. There went another attempt at growing out her nails. She looked back up and saw Tommy staring at her.  “I didn’t mean to make it my business,” she offered in apology. “It’s a bad habit of mine. I’ll let you get some more sleep before it’s time to checkout.”

 

Even in retrospect, it was hard to tell if her feet ever touched the ground when she darted from bed to bathroom with her bag to shower. The endless hot water felt amazing, and it felt more than tempting to stay under the spray for the rest of forever after her foot in mouth with Tommy.

 

Oliver was awake when she finally finished getting ready for the day. He was already dressed and putting his things into his bag. Tommy was still shirtless, she noticed as he walked past her. He gave her a small smile before walking into the bathroom.

 

“You two okay?” Oliver asked after a few seconds.

 

“I think?” Felicity said with a small shrug. “I have a tendency to ask too many questions. And I don't always know when to stop.”

 

“Don’t worry about it,” Oliver reassured Felicity, shrugging off her concern. “I've been Tommy’s best friend since we were kids and even I ask too many questions for him sometimes.”

 

“Yeah, but you aren’t a total stranger interrogating him about why he can't sleep--” Felicity paused, glaring at Oliver as he winced dramatically. “I told you. My secret super power is asking inappropriate questions.”

 

“Really?” Oliver laughed. “I guess I just haven't gotten the third degree yet.”

 

Felicity smiled, shaking her head. “You should consider yourself lucky. I am a skilled interrogator. I make grown men cry.”

 

“Do your worst,” he dared her. Oliver pulled on his green hoodie, holding his other arm out for Felicity. “But over waffles. I'm no match for a skilled interrogator without a hearty breakfast.”

 

Rolling her eyes, Felicity took his arm and followed Oliver out of the hotel room. She did her best to ignore the way her stomach flipped at his touch. It was no wonder Oliver, and even Tommy, had such a reputation. Putting aside the insane amount of money they had access to, which on its own would make them swoon-worthy to most girls, they were unbelievably charming.

 

Which, in the grand scheme of life, was just really unfair.

 

The free breakfast at the hotel was about what Felicity was expecting. A bunch of miniature cereal boxes filled one basket, a decent variety of fresh fruit was in another basket, and a selection of juice and milk next to them. There were a few waffle makers, that Oliver had no problem figuring out how to use, which surprised Felicity, given his lack of other Normal People Knowledge.

 

Felicity grabbed a plate, filling it with berries and a banana.  She did a small fist pump when she spotted the last chocolate muffin on a tray that had been initially hidden from her view. She smiled at Oliver, who seemed to already have eaten most of his food, as she sat down.

 

“Did you actually taste any of that?” Felicity asked, tilting her head in amusement. “Or did you just inhale it?”

 

“Inhaled,” Oliver answered in between bites. “I think I might have been hungry.”

 

“You think?” Felicity teased, pulling off a bite of her muffin. “Want some?”

 

Oliver shook his head. “Thanks though,” he smiled at Felicity before taking another bite. “I think chocolate muffins might be too much sugar to really be called breakfast.”

 

“Seriously?” Felicity scoffed, popping another bite into her mouth, closing her eyes in overexaggerated joy. “Says the guy with enough syrup on his plate to drown a tiny civilization.”

 

Oliver shrugged, twirling his last piece of waffle in the syrup. “Plain waffles don’t have enough sugar. Everyone knows this.”

 

“Everyone?” Felicity questioned softly. She shook head. “I can’t say I knew that and I'm someone.”

 

Oliver stared at her for a moment, a look passing over his face that Felicity couldn't quite decipher. “Yeah, you are someone.”

 

He placed his fork down in the center of his plate before standing up. “I'm going to get some juice,” he nodded to Felicity’s almost empty glass, “do you want some more?”

 

“Yeah,” Felicity handed him the glass, “thank you.”

 

It felt like he was running away from her, and was using the juice as an excuse. The break right after that sudden intensity of his was welcome though, and it let her focus on eating instead of their conversation.

 

Felicity finished most of her food before Oliver returned. He set the juice down next to her plate. “Tommy texted me to say he called a mechanic this morning,” he said, as he pulled out his chair to sit down.

 

“He did?” Felicity said, taking a sip. “Did he get a hold of someone? It’s so early.”

 

“No,” Oliver shook his head, drumming his fingers on the edge of the table, “but I'm sure they’ll call back when they open.”

 

Felicity nodded in mock seriousness. “I'm sure people don't often keep either of you waiting.”

 

“No,” Oliver laughed, “people never keep us waiting.” He winked at her. It should have been a bit weird coming from the guy with long hair and preppy polo shirts. Should have, but wasn’t. “But, we were talking about maybe heading down to the area where the mechanic is. Maybe walk around before they open?”

 

“Yeah, that sounds good.” Felicity grabbed the last handful of blueberries on her plate and threw them in her mouth. “I've said thanks, right? I'm not even sure what would have happened if you guys hadn't stopped for me. I probably would still be out there.”

 

“You have, about a million times,” Oliver assured, holding out his hand to help Felicity up as he stood. “And I'm not sure how many times we need to tell you that we should be thanking you. We would have died on some dirt road to nowhere if you hadn't taken over reading the map.”

 

Felicity smiled, grateful, and took Oliver’s hand. “Well. At least I bring something to this relationship.” She winced at her words. “Not relationship. Obviously not relationship, because you're you and I'm me and well, Tommy... friendship?” She tried again, closing her eyes, waiting for it stop. “Not that we know each other all that well, but we seem to be getting there? Road trip buddies? Cause we met on the road, and I swear I am going to stop talking any time.”

 

Oliver smiled at her babble, his eyes full of amusement as he squeezed her hand. “C’mon, let's go make sure Tommy is ready to go.”

 

**I can't wait to fall in love with you**  
**You can't wait to fall in love with me**  
**This just can't be summer love you'll see**  
**This just can't be summer love, L. O. V. E**

 

“It's going to be how long?” Felicity squeaked, her eyes widening as she looked across the counter to the mechanic. She was older, probably in her early fifties, and her well worn smile looked like she had had just about enough for the day. Maybe even the year.

 

“Look,” the mechanic started, reaching her arms up to pull her ponytail tighter. Her dark hands were covered in grease and other liquids. Her entire jumpsuit was stained, some more fresh than others, which made it difficult for Felicity to make out her name, Trina, that was sewn into the upper pocket of her uniform.“I know it's not what you want to hear, but I'm down a few guys and you left your car about four hours from here. I'll do my best to get it in by the end of the night.”

 

Felicity sighed, closing her eyes as she tried to quickly plan for what she would do stranded in Flagstaff, Arizona for at least three days. First, there was going to be the added expense of a hotel for that long. Then, there was going to be the cost of towing her car. Followed by the very scary reality that she had no idea what it was going to cost to fix the damn thing.

 

She should have bought a plane ticket.

 

Oliver squeezed her shoulder reassuringly while Tommy smiled at her. At least she had met them. They had made the experience of having her car breakdown at the most pain in the ass moment more tolerable. Which was why the idea of being stuck for so long alone seemed more awful than it had before.

 

“And you have no idea how long it's going to be for the car to get up and running again?” Oliver asked, dropping his hand back down to his side.

 

“Honey,” Trina laughed, looking up at the ceiling for a brief moment before looking back at the three of them. “If I could diagnose cars and give estimates for repairs without ever seeing or touching the vehicle, I think my business would be in better shape. Hell. I'd probably make a decent living just on showing off my damn magical act and not working on a single car.”

 

She was irritated with them. And Felicity understood, it wasn't their first time through the same set of questions. The car wasn't going to arrive until after business hours today. It wouldn't be looked at until tomorrow afternoon, at the earliest. It probably needed a radiator shipped up from Phoenix. And then it would take a day or two to actually complete the repairs.

 

The shop didn't even work on the weekend, and it was already Friday afternoon.

 

“Okay,” Felicity sighed, taking a small step back from the counter. “I appreciate your help.”  
Felicity didn't wait before she walked out of the building. The Arizona heat wasn't too overwhelming yet, but the sun almost immediately warmed her skin. She used to love that feeling when she was a kid. It made her feel energized and ready to face whatever challenges came her way.

 

Now, all she wanted to do was get in an air conditioned car and drive as far away from the overbearing sun and heat as possible.

 

“Hey,” Tommy said as he and Oliver walked up next to her. “It's not that bad. We can even wait it out with you--”

 

“No,” Felicity interrupted, “You guys don't have to do that. You've already been sidetracked enough with picking me up and driving me here. I can't ask you to do that.”

 

“One,” Tommy began, holding up his index finger, “you didn't ask, we offered. Two, you're our friend now. You'll just have to deal with that. And three, Oliver and I voted and we outnumber you. So, you stay, we stay. That simple.”

 

“Or,” Oliver added, giving Felicity a grin. “We go. You go. We are going to the same place. It almost seems more economical and environmental if you just come with us.”

 

Felicity shook her head, looking down at the ground. It didn’t make sense to her that two rich guys would consider her a friend, especially not so soon. “You guys are sweet,” she said, brushing a piece of her hair out of her face before looking back up at them. “But I can't just leave my car here. I need it for school, and I don't even know how I'm currently going to pay for all of the expenses of fixing it. You shouldn't wait around for me.”

 

Tommy gestured back at his car. “If the problem is that you need a car to drive at school, might I offer you this fine automobile?” He puffed up his chest like a used car salesman and even in her crappy mood, it made her smile. “It has all four doors, the sound system might just be worth more than the whole vehicle itself, and I’ll even throw in the Aerosmith CD it came with!”

 

“I can’t take your car,” she protested through a laugh.

 

Oliver took her shoulders in both hands, requiring her to tilt her head back to meet his eyes. It felt like he was too tall to exist. “Technically, you aren’t really taking his car. He got this just for the trip. Once we’re at school, it’s not like we’re going to need it.”  He gave her that small, soft smile and shrugged, taking his hand away in the process.

 

Even in the growing heat of the day, Felicity found herself missing the warmth of it.

 

“Consider it payment for helping us get to our mutual destination,” Oliver finished.

 

“I..." Felicity paused, chewing on her bottom lip as she thought.

 

It was a great offer, and if it wasn't for her pride and worry that she’d be taking advantage of them, it was an offer she would be crazy to pass on. The pro column on this one was a no brainer. She would no longer be travelling alone. That right there put her in a better position.

 

And sure, there was still the chance Tommy or Oliver could be a serial killer. But the chances of that seemed to be dropping the more time she spent with them. They had transformed from ‘maybe serial killers Tommy and Oliver’ to ‘billionaires Thomas Merlyn and Oliver Queen’ to her friends in rapid time.

 

Maybe she was crazy. But she was young and when else was she going to get an opportunity like this?

 

But mostly, she just wasn't ready to say goodbye yet.

 

“Okay, fine,” Felicity agreed, her smile widening as she kept talking, “I'll go with you guys. But no changing your plans for me. I know you guys don't want to drive straight through to Boston like I was going to. If we’re doing this, we’re doing it.”

 

Tommy grinned, high-fiving Oliver. “Well, now that we have you, we can do the fun things without winding up accidentally illegally crossing a border because we thought the big line on a map was a road.”

 

Felicity shook her head. “Neither of you are really that bad. You would have figured it out. You know I know that.”

 

“Now we’ll never know,” Oliver said with a shrug. “So, where to now?”

 

“I've always wanted to go to Roswell?” Felicity offered, unsure if it was too soon for her to be throwing out destinations.

 

“Then to Roswell we go,” Tommy said with a smile. “Let's go let them know this is less of an emergency rescue mission, sell your car to her, and hit the road.”

 

Come on and let me show you round, let me take you out  
Betcha we can have some fun girl  
'Cause you could dress it up, you could dress it down  
Any way you want it done girl,  
Or we can stay home talking on the phone  
-Rapping till we see the sun girl  
Do what I gotta do, just gotta show you  
That I'm the one girl

 

Felicity drummed her fingers against the steering wheel, keeping beat with the song that was playing softly from the speakers. She had offered to start the drive to Roswell.

 

While normally her music would be blasting from the speakers, it didn't feel right to have car karaoke when she wasn't the only one in it. All the windows were rolled down in an attempt to keep it cool, so it wasn't like the speakers could have kept up with the wind rushing past at sixty mph anyway.

 

“The Thing?” Tommy poked his head between her and Oliver, nodding at a passing billboard. “I don't know what 'The Thing’ is but I want to.”

 

Oliver’s large hand gently brushed against her shirt as he shoved Tommy back. “The last time you picked where we went, we wound up at the Potato Museum.”

 

“And it was delicious,” he protested.

 

“You guys went to a museum for potatoes?” Felicity asked, shaking her head. “Maybe you really were lost before I came along.”

 

Tommy rolled his eyes, dramatically holding his hand up to his heart. “You wound me,” he teased, laughing as he sat back in his seat. “But seriously, The Thing, we must go.”

 

Felicity glanced over at Oliver, smiling as he mouthed the word must with air quotes to her. “We must get this air conditioning fixed, buddy,” Oliver reminded him.

 

“Why didn't you mention that when we were literally standing two feet from a mechanic?” Tommy asked in disbelief.

 

“That's a good question,” Oliver started, shrugging. “I have no good answer. I didn't think about it then. My focus was on Felicity and her car.”

 

“The AC worked in my car,” Felicity added for no particular reason, squinting as she tried to read the billboard.

 

TURN AROUND, the billboard screamed with its deep, red letters, WHAT IS THE THING?

 

Felicity sighed. This was ridiculous. The whole trip was, really, she recognized this, but turning around to follow billboard signs to a sideshow attraction seemed like an extra level of ridiculous.

 

“Okay,” Felicity said, interrupting the small mock argument that Tommy and Oliver had been engaging in as she pulled off the interstate to turn around. “Tommy, grab the map. You're going to give us a route from-" she paused, biting her lip and doing the mental math for the exit number for The Thing and where they were, “Phoenix to Roswell. I'll double check it, but you need the practice. We can find someone for the AC in Phoenix. It should be easier. Bigger city and all.”

 

Tommy grinned, grabbing the folded up map from the other end of the back seat and got to work.

 

“No task for me?” Oliver teased.

 

She smiled at him, wind whipping her hair across her face as she picked up speed. “You just sit there and look cute,” Felicity flirted back.

 

She bit her tongue as soon as the words were said. Thankfully, Tommy didn't seem to hear, or was too polite to show otherwise. Oliver ducked his head and she spotted the top of his ears getting a bit pink.

 

Sunburn, maybe? He certainly couldn't be blushing. Just like she couldn't be since those words had never left her mouth and were safe in her brain where they belonged.

 

“You can actually pull out another CD if you don't mind,” she asked him. “Or grab my notebook in my purse and we can play the license plate game.”

 

Oliver looked up at her from his hunched over position to get at the CD case by his feet. “I still don’t believe that is actually a thing.”

 

“It’s the license plate game,” Felicity repeated, saying the words slowly, as if that was going to make it more clear to Oliver. He shook his head as he grabbed the CD case and sat back against the seat.

 

Oliver turned to the side then, reaching behind Felicity’s seat to pull her purse up to his lap. He shrugged after another moment, before sliding the zipper open and grabbing out the notebook.

 

“I still can’t believe you've never played the license plate game.” Felicity shook her head in mock disbelief. “Well, I suppose that's good news for me. Maybe I'll be able to win this time.”

 

“Tommy and I are fast learners,” Oliver said, digging through the bottom of Felicity’s purse for a pen, “Well, we are when we want to be at least,” he added, pulling out the pen and setting the purse back behind Felicity’s seat.  “So tell me what to do.”

 

“Well, Mr. Fast-Learner,” Felicity started, flashing him a quick smile before turning on the blinker to pass another semi truck. “You'll need to create a vertical list of all 50 states.”

 

“Right,” Oliver said. “Alphabetically?”

 

“That's usually how it's done.”

 

“Well, I've definitely got Arizona,” Oliver laughed, writing the word down on the first piece of blank paper he could find. “Tommy might need to help out with the rest,” he turned around in his seat again and handed Tommy the notebook and pen, nodding his head to the folded up map across from Tommy.

 

The car was mostly silent as Tommy went to work copying the names of the states down into the notebook and Oliver began looking through Felicity’s CD case.

 

Felicity bounced her left knee, cursing under her breath at all of the nervous energy that had built up since the last CD ended, leaving her with just the sounds of Oliver shuffling through a CD case that might hold too many details about her while Tommy’s pen scratched away at her notepad to play a children’s game.

 

She really needed Oliver to just pick a CD already.

 

“I'm noticing a trend,” he said, flipping another page in the case. “With your music, I mean.”

 

Which was really why she should have just grabbed the case from his lap and picked a CD at random. She didn't want people trying to analyze her based on her music choices.

 

“You don't seem to have many CDs that have actual labels,” he said. Another page flip. “Most of them are written on in Sharpie.” She glanced over, and found herself staring directly into his eyes. He must have turned in his seat without her noticing. “Your handwriting?” Oliver held up a disc that had the words 'Summer Music Mix’ scrawled on it.

 

“Yes,” Felicity said, turning her attention back to the road, her knee bouncing again. “Doesn't everyone have a bunch of mix CDs?”

 

“I don’t,” Tommy said from the behind her. “I don't even know that I've ever received one. Also, has Arkansas always been spelled that way? It looks wrong.”

 

Felicity rolled her eyes, looking at the small portion of Tommy that she could see in the rearview mirror. His grin was broad. She could only see the corner of it, but his eyes were closed, and the side of his face wrinkled from the gesture.

 

“Yeah, Arkansas has always been spelled that way.” Felicity resisted the urge to fidget as Oliver put the mix into the CD player.

 

Maybe she should have thought more about whether or not she wanted to risk being judged for her music taste before agreeing to listen to her CDs. She hadn't been too concerned at first, but now it seemed more intimate.

 

Either of potentially learning too much about her from her song choices on mixes hadn't been something she was worried about before.

 

But now, even in the short amount of time that she’d gotten to know Oliver, she had noticed he was more observant than he wanted people to believe. He hid it well, but she knew by the way his fingers traced the words on the mixes he was still looking through, the way he would linger on a certain design on a disc, that he was picking up things she wasn't sure she wanted him to know.

 

“Well, let's see what Felicity Smoak considers summer music approved,” Oliver teased, reaching over to the CD player to hit the play button.  

 

The first song started, the beat drumming throughout the car and demanding Felicity’s attention. She gave in rather easily; it was a relief to focus on the song rather than on her paranoia that Oliver was going to psychoanalyze her based on the names of her mixes.

 

Everything was occasionally easier if ignored.

 

“... girl,” Tommy sang along with the song, dropping his voice down, which surprised Felicity. She glanced back up to the rearview mirror, shaking her head in amusement as she watched Tommy bop along to the beat of the song.

 

“I’m not going to lie,” Oliver said softly, “I didn’t really have you pegged for a Justin Timberlake kind of girl.”

 

Felicity shrugged, smiling despite her worry about what kind of girl he did think she was. “I’m a mystery,” she teased, winking at him before singing along with Tommy.

 

“I can’t wait to fall in love with you. You can’t wait to fall in love with me. This just can’t be summer love, you’ll see.”

 

**Well I'm a freak ya right each and every night**  
**I know how to do it insane girl**  
**'Cause I can make ya hot make ya stop**  
**Make ya wanna say my name girl**  
**Come on baby please 'cause I'm on my knees**  
**Can't get you off my brain girl**  
**But who would a thought that you could be the one 'cause I**

 

Tommy's arm came up between her and Oliver from the backseat so fast that it almost hit her.

 

“There! Gas station and mechanic,” he called out.

 

Oliver smacked his arm down, shaking his head. “Yeah, we saw it.”

 

Tommy’s head replaced it between them and Felicity laughed as she slowed to turn into the entrance.

 

“I would say I'm sorry,” he told Felicity, “but I didn't know how much I needed to live in an air conditioned world until now.” He ducked away fast enough that the next shove back from Oliver ended up pushing her against the door instead.

 

Thankfully, Felicity was already pulled up at a pump, her hand reaching for the keys. The music abruptly shut off and she opened the door before hunting for the gas door release.

 

“It's down by the floor, right next to the seat,” Tommy explained, bouncing his hands against Oliver's headrest. “I'm going to,” he motioned toward the building, “pay and find out how long it'll be for them to check on and fix the AC.”

 

“Sounds good,” Felicity said, popping the latch and stepping out of the car. “I've got gas. Oliver, you get food?”

 

“Yeah,” Oliver stretched as he got out of the car, his shirt rising just enough to flash a sliver of his back. “I can get snacks.”

 

“We just might be the dream team,” Felicity laughed as Tommy and Oliver walked toward the store and she clicked the buttons to start pumping gas.

 

She had just finished filling the tank up when Tommy walked back over to the car. She smiled at him as she replaced the gas cap.

 

“So,” she started, rubbing her hands on the front of her jeans, “do they think we are worthy of air conditioning?”

 

“They do,” Tommy grinned, holding out his hand for the key Felicity was dangling in the air. “Shouldn't even take them long. Apparently these things need to be occasionally charged.”

 

“Look at you speaking mechanic,” Felicity laughed, placing the keys in his hand. “I'm going to go help Oliver.”

 

“Grab some more water,” Tommy yelled across the parking lot just as Felicity was opening the door. “I don't know how you and Oliver drink so much.”

 

Felicity rolled her eyes, grinning as she yelled back, “It's hot.”

 

It didn't take long for Felicity to find Oliver inside the small store. The two teenage girls giggling over by the Icee machine, attempting to covertly stare at Oliver, gave away his location. He was standing in front of the nacho machine, various bags of junk food on the counter in front of him.

 

He held his cell phone between his ear and his shoulder in an uncomfortable looking position. The downside to not having bricks for phones anymore.

 

“Speedy, it took them how many days to realize I wasn't even home?” he asked, pressing the cheese button, carefully moving the bowl of chips underneath it. “Give them another 10 minutes and they will get over me leaving early ruins their excuse to throw some big going away gala and show off our perfect family.”

 

Felicity froze, unsure of what she should do. Obviously, he was in the middle of a conversation that she should not be listen in on. But also, the convenience store was approximately four rows and a back row of coolers. If she turned around and just slunk off to the opposite side of the store, that might also be awkward.

 

Plus, if she was honest, she wanted to know more about him.

 

But that still didn't make eavesdropping on his conversation feel any better.  She was almost ready to make a break for it when Oliver turned around, nachos in hand, and smiled at her.

 

‘My sister,’ he mouthed, rolling his eyes.  

 

Felicity gave him a small smile and nod, hoping that it came across understanding. Even though she didn't quite understand. She had always wondered what it would be like to have siblings. Growing up, her friends had always brushed off her questions with ‘it sucks’ or ‘they’re annoying’.

 

But while Oliver looked slightly annoyed, it was also clear he loved his sister. It was that dynamic that intrigued her.

 

“Look Speedy,” Oliver said, setting his nachos back onto the counter. “Tommy’s about to leave the store without me. I gotta go.”

 

He was quiet for a moment, shaking his head at whatever his sister had said.

 

“I love you too,”  he responded, ending the call and sliding his phone back into his pocket.  “Sorry about that,” Oliver apologized to Felicity, “She wasn't very happy that I left.”

 

“Speedy?” Felicity asked, grabbing a prepackaged salad that appeared to have the least amount of wilted greens from the open fridge that was next to Oliver.

 

“Thea,” Oliver corrected. “Speedy is my nickname for her. She was impossible to catch as a kid.”

 

“Ah,” Felicity nodded, holding her hand out for the napkins and utensils that Oliver had grabbed and sliding them into her purse. “She isn't excited that you're off to college?”

 

“You don't have siblings?”

 

Felicity shook her head. “Only child.”

 

“It's not that she isn't happy for me,” Oliver explained, leaning back against the counter. “I think she had more plans for the summer, and then I left to go on this trip. She called to tell me that our parents are deeply disappointed that I left without any sort of goodbye dinner, and, I mean, I'm sure that they are disappointed. But I think Thea might be more disappointed. If that makes sense?”

 

“I guess. Honestly, I've always found the whole sibling relationship thing a little confusing,” Felicity admitted. “One of the downsides of not having any and not really being exposed to any.”

 

“I can't imagine going back to being an only child now that I have Thea,” Oliver started, motioning with his head over to the shelves of candy before walking toward them.  “But I also remember how disappointed I was when my parents explained to me that I was going to have a sister.”

 

The bell at the front door chimed, pulling both Oliver and Felicity’s attention towards it. Tommy strolled in with a giant smile across his face, which was really a sight to be seen and Felicity couldn't help but wonder where the two girls who were staring at Oliver were.

 

Because damn.

 

“Get the candy and let's go,” Tommy said in a sing-song voice, leaning over Felicity to grab a roll of Sweet Tarts. “The AC just needed to be charged. We are out of here within 5 minutes.”

 

“Oh yeah?” Oliver teased, rolling his eyes in exaggeration when Felicity looked at him. “And where are we going again Tommy?”

 

Somehow, Tommy’s smile grew bigger, the corners of his eyes wrinkling.

 

“We, my dear, dear friends,” Tommy patted Felicity and Oliver on their arms. “We are going to The Thing.”

 

**I can't wait to fall in love with you**  
**You can't wait to fall in love with me**  
**This just can't be summer love you'll see**  
**This just can't be summer love, L. O. V. E**

 

“It looks like a murder shack,” Felicity declared.

 

Oliver shook his head. “There's more than one. Can't be.”

 

Rolling her eyes, she gestured at the three corrugated sheds they could see behind the main building. “Fine. A series of murder shacks.”

 

“You seem to have an obsession with murder and killing,” Tommy said. He poked her in the arm. “Are you sure you aren't the serial killer in this group?”

 

“I don't have the hair for it,” she laughed.

 

Oliver glared in mock offense, reaching out to lightly grab a small handful of Felicity’s hair. “I don't know. I think there have been a few serial killers with dyed black hair over the years.”

 

“I don't know about that,” Felicity said, smacking Oliver’s hand away from her hair. “There aren't a lot of known female serial killers.”

 

“Known? Is that because women don't kill or because you guys are better at it?” Tommy asked, opening the door for Felicity and Oliver.

 

“I guess we’ll never know,” Felicity answered, following Oliver into the attraction.

 

It took a minute for her eyes to adjust to the darker room. There were sporadic light bulbs burnt out or just completely missing from the track lights along the ceiling. Felicity wasn't sure if that was a side effect of being a sideshow attraction in the middle of a desert, or an attempt to immediately set the mood.

 

Either way, it worked.

 

She wrapped her arms low across her stomach, walking slowly down the aisles of souvenirs. There were rows of shot glasses, postcards, keychain rings and repackaged foods all with the same bright letters and words that enticed Tommy to convince them to turn around and come here.

 

Before she could overthink it and stop herself, Felicity grabbed one of the bumper stickers, took the keychain with the word 'sister’ on it that Oliver was staring at, snatched the shot glass from Tommy, and went to the register.

 

“Three tickets,” she told the older woman behind the counter. “And these.” The kitschy souvenirs ended up being more than the three tickets combined. She liked being able to buy something for them all, though. It made her feel less like a freeloader and more of an actual participant in the road trip.

 

Purchases in a bag, Felicity handed her boys their admission. The fake stone entryway at the back of the shop beckoned, the yellow door the same bright color that was on all the advertisements for The Thing.

 

She was worried that on the other side of the door would be more of the unbearable desert heat. Thankfully, it seemed the murder shacks were less….shack-like than she had thought. While the metal barns were still definitely warm, the air conditioning made sure they weren’t hotter than outside.

 

“Good thing they keep their AC charged,” Tommy teased, grinning.

 

Oliver shook his head with a long suffering sigh. “This is your new favorite piece of knowledge, isn't it,” he asked him.

 

“Like you knew the AC had to be charged!”

 

“I at least knew that charging the AC was a possibility,” Felicity defended, unsure if she actually did know that prior to Tommy telling her what they were doing. “I'm just classy enough to not rub your face in it.”

 

Tommy laughed, shaking his head. “Sure you are.”

 

They stopped in front of what looked like an old western wagon. It reminded her of Little House on the Prairie, though it probably wasn’t actually that old. “I really hope this isn’t The Thing,” she said. “Otherwise this is more of a tourist trap than I thought.”

 

“It’s from Oklahoma,” Tommy reported, looking at a sign she missed.

 

Oliver scoffed. “They know what state it’s from?”

 

Tommy shook his head. “Not the state. The show. You know…” He took a deep breath. “Oooook-la-homa where the wind comes sweeping down the plain,” he sang.

 

“I didn’t know you knew show tunes,” Oliver said.

 

“I am vast, I contain multitudes.”

 

Felicity playfully nudged Oliver. “Look, he even knows Whitman!”

 

“He only took the poetry class last semester to pick up girls,” Oliver whispered loudly to her.

 

“You were right there with me, Ollie. Don’t even pretend.” Tommy gave them both a cheesy wink, walking backwards down the path.

 

The carefree mood began to sort of melt away into… well, it wasn’t fear. Uncomfortableness, maybe? Felicity shivered as they kept walking through the small, dark shack. Sure, it was warm inside, but it was also a little creepy. The metal ribs of the building provided great shadows for the extremely dim, hanging lights to bounce off of. Only a few of the lights were on their last leg of life and more than a few were just burnt out, offering no light in sections.

 

The large Godzilla-like footprints painted on the floor, which had seemed corny at first, took on a more sinister feeling as they led further into the twists and turns.

 

“Is it just me,” Felicity asked after a moment, wrapping her arms around her stomach tighter, “or is it a little scary in here?

 

Tommy moved closer to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder, pulling her into his side. “I'll keep you safe.”

 

Felicity smiled at him, sliding her arm around Tommy. She held out her other hand for Oliver, but it still almost surprised her when he took it without her saying anything.

 

They stayed like that throughout the rest of the journey through the room.

 

Turned out that the Thing was just a mummified mother and child. Which was really nothing to be scared of, but she didn't tell the boys that. Instead she held Tommy a little tighter and squeezed Oliver’s hand when they opened up the final curtain to reveal the mummies.

 

“Well,” Oliver said as they stood in front of the mummies, “This seems like a good introduction to whatever weirdness awaits us in Roswell.”

 

“Roswell,” Felicity chimed in, smiling at Oliver. “Roswell, here we come.”

 

**Summer's over for the both of us {summer's over}**  
**But that doesn't mean we should give up on love {don't give up}**  
**You’re the one that I've been thinking of {you’re the one}**  
**And I knew the day I met you you'd be the one**

 

Most of the ride to Roswell had been in the dark, and once Felicity had been relieved of navigating duty, it hadn’t taken her long to fall asleep in the back.

 

Normally she wasn’t one to sleep well in any vehicle, but after a morning of worry and an afternoon of travel, she found it easy to drift off. She didn’t even realize she had fallen asleep until she felt the door she was using as her pillow open.

 

“Hey, it’s okay,” Tommy said, catching her. He reached over to unbuckle her and Felicity got a whiff of his cologne. If she hadn’t been halfway back asleep already, she might have managed to not sort of nuzzle her way into his shoulder.

 

Tommy was a far better pillow than the hard door, though. He smelled better than the car, and was all warm. Everyone always forgot that it got cold in the desert at night, even apparently natives like her who should have known better. Her sweatshirt was packed in her suitcase and the breeze coming in through the open door had her feeling goosebumps right away.

 

Feeling him start to pull away, Felicity tried to tug him back. “Five more minutes,” she mumbled into his chest. It would be so easy to fall back asleep right here. Warm pillow….

 

“Oliver, can you grab the bags?” His voice was all rumble-y in his chest, a soothing counterpoint to the constant thud-thud of his heartbeat. “I’m going to try to get her to the room.”

 

She perked up a bit and managed to blink the sleep from her eyes. “Oliver?” she mumbled, wanting to be sure she heard right. That this wasn’t some sort of strange desert dream caused by waiting out in the heat for too long once her car had died. Why she would dream of Oliver and Tommy she wasn’t sure, but her subconscious probably had a reason.

 

“Yeah, I’m here,” Oliver’s voice came from behind her. She couldn’t quite get her neck to turn enough to see him, not and keep her arms around Tommy’s neck. It was enough to know he was there, that they hadn’t accidently left him behind at a rest stop or gas station.

 

Her boys were both with her.

 

“Not tha’ you’re my boys,” she yawned. “Just tha’ you’re both boys an’ you’re here.” She snuggled further into Tommy’s arms, paying no attention to the catch in his breath. She felt him slide an arm under her legs, carrying her from the car to wherever the room was.

 

He must have set her down next to the bed, because there was a mattress in front of her and that was good enough. Faceplanting herself onto it, she squirmed around until she was wrapped in a blanket cocoon, a pillow almost under her head.

 

**'Cause I can't wait to fall in love with you**  
**You can't wait to fall in love with me**  
**This just can't be summer love you'll see**  
**This just can't be summer love, L. O. V. E**

**Author's Note:**

> Song for chapter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=AigOUsOEhSY


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